Crossing the Great Divide

Beginning in June 2015, Don Pollack and a team of artists, scientists, and teachers traversed the landscapes and routes of the American frontier. We set survey markers as we traveled and we continue to do so as an ongoing project dedicated to remapping the Earth as a home for tolerance. I am asking allied people around the world to continue their participation for this project by accepting an unfired clay survey marker as a gesture of support and expansion for the map of tolerance.

CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE, began as a North American landscape project dedicated to taking history to heart. Traveling for 2 months from Chicago–Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, the journey followed the paths of Lewis and Clark and General George Custer among others. The landscapes and memories that went through traumatic change in Native and North America must not be forgotten. It is time to rewrite a new history and to survey a new landscape of tolerance. A reciprocity exists between the human body and the physical landscape. We are the land and the land is our body. A wound on the land is a wound to our body and our emotional state as well as a scar on the Earth. The connections we make must be taken care of with great patience and understanding between all people. This reciprocity is a fragile balance we are entrusted with and is easily broken as the clay markers.

In order to be more connected and intimate with the landscapes and local culture, travel must proceed slowly,– for this reason it was necessary to journey under human power,– and thus via bicycle for over 3000miles. Leaving from Rogers Avenue in Chicago or Indian Boundary Line (1816) at Lake Michigan, we arrived at Cape Disappointment, Washington at the Pacific Ocean 2 months later. The title, ‘Crossing the Great Divide’,– implies crossing the barrier that separates people as well as the physical ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Drawing attention to the historic resonance of place, we uploaded short films, still imagery, writings and weather/temperament data while we traveled and it is included on this site.

A new geographic view of the West suggests changing paradigms and challenges in a postmodern society. Addressing the current needs of our collective mind/body/land connections, the old vision seem outmoded as we look for new perspectives. An exhibit of our work based on this journey will include paintings, photographs, documents, sound, and performance and will be presented at the Bridgeport Art Centerin Chicago.

CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE

THE PROJECT

Don Pollack was born in Chicago and currently lives in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he studied Graphic Design and he received his Masters degree in Painting from the Ohio State University. His passion for the landscape can be tied to extensive hiking and photographic trips in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain National US Parks, Waterton, Kootenay and Banff Canadian National Parks. Long distance cycling eventually lead him to integrate slow travel though the landscape with a painting process,– he has explored the natural spaces and personal histories that have come to define an individual sense of place. By integrating a web-dialogue component to his work, he has begun to explore the notion of a collective unconscious experience of landscape and place where by a fellow traveler may also experience nature through shared stories from remote locations. Currently, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Visual Communication at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

THE PROJECT

Bicycling the frontier paths of the American Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean, we will leave from Rogers Avenue in Chicago or Indian Boundary Line (1816) and end at Cape Disappointment, Washington at the Pacific Ocean.

Beginning in June 2015, Don Pollack, Julia Pollack, Anders Pollack, Mark Cleveland, Pat Cleveland, Quincy Stewart, and Adrian Down will be traversing the landscapes of the American frontier via bicycle for over 3000miles focusing on the landscape and memory of western migration across North America. We will be living a nomadic life for over 2 months working on a project titled, ‘Crossing the Great Divide’.

But this is not only about an escape into nature, – it is also about building a new relationship to society as well. We will be setting survey markers as we travel dedicated to remapping the Earth as a home for tolerance. Following some of the paths of Manifest Destiny, I am interested in developing a new and more inclusive narrative of our western experience. By linking digitally with our process, we will transcend limited notions of national or environmental borders and share our stories in a global dialog that brings us closer to each other and reconnects us to place.

While physical struggle will profoundly inform our experience of place we look forward to listening,– this will carry us forward on our journey. Travel, discussions, explorations, and interactions will become our nourishing source in the midst of a fragile peace in a modern world.

Don Pollack was born in Chicago and currently lives in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he studied Graphic Design and he received his Masters degree in Painting from the Ohio State University. His passion for the landscape can be tied to extensive hiking and photographic explorations of Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain National US Parks, Waterton, Kootenay and Banff Canadian National Parks. Long distance cycling eventually lead him to the conclusion that the time has come to recognize the act of riding a bicycle as an artistic gesture. By integrating slow travel though the landscape with a painting process, he has explored the natural spaces and personal histories that have come to define an individual sense of place. By integrating a web-dialogue component to his work, he has begun to explore the notion of a collective unconscious experience of landscape and place where by a fellow traveler may also experience nature through shared stories from remote locations. Currently, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Visual Communication at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Professor of Visual Communications at the Illinois Institute of Art.